Evolution / Genetics / Biology

Wreck of British ship from Crimean War containing '30 barrels of gold' discovered

Historians examining wreckage in a harbour in the war-torn Crimea region believe they may have found a missing British ship that sunk carrying "30 barrels of gold".

Analysis suggests all the ships were sunk by ship damage [Credit: CEN]

The wreckage is believed to be that of the Black Sea Prince, which was one of a number of ships from a British flotilla that sunk in the Black Sea during the siege of Sebastopol.

The ship had been carrying money to pay the wages of soldiers fighting in the Crimean War and also to help fund the British battle in the region.

Artefacts found in the wreckage of the ship [Credit: CEN]

But unable to dock in the harbour, it is believed that in total 34 British ships sank and now experts say that they have found five sunken ships while working on reconstruction of the waterfront in the city of Yevpatoria in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula.

The city is located in the Crimean region disputed by Ukraine and Russia and annexed in March 2014, and was badly damaged in 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops as part of the Crimean War.

It is believed a total of 34 ships sank because they were unable to dock in the harbour [Credit: CEN]

The harbour itself is named after V. Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, and archaeologists have confirmed that the wreckage of the five ships had been located around 0.7 miles from the shore. They have also confirmed that three of the five discovered ships bore British imperial insignia.

Local media said that excited locals believed that one of the ships might be the legendary "Black Sea Prince" and with regards to the other two ships - it is suspected that they are French.

Specialist Viktor Vahoneev said: "We believe that these ships sunk after a storm on 14 November 1854."

Analysis of the wreckage indicates that all of them were sunk because of storm damage as there was no indication that they had been damaged in fighting.

Work is now taking place to recover the ships and any artefacts that will be moved to a museum of underwater archaeology.